Just before global credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s downgraded its outlook on India, the International Monetary Fund lowered the country’s growth projections for 2012 to 6.89 per cent. The indisputable fact is that the economic reforms need to progress on a war footing. The state of affairs in the Indian polity is pathetic and its credibility is at its lowest ebb. Corruption is rampant almost at all levels and it should not come as a shock that the country holds the dubious distinction of being among the world’s most corrupt nations. The point is that the government lacks the political will to implement economic reforms and fight corruption.